On May 12th, 2016 Stephen J. Castilleja (27) of
Prosser Washington, was arrested by investigators of the South-East Regional
Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. Assisting agencies included Kennewick PD,
Richland PD, U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Benton County Sheriff’s
Office.
A search warrant was executed at Castilleja’s
residence. During the search of
Castilleja’s residence, nude photographs depicting what appeared to be a minor
child were located. The victim was known to Castilleja. Castilleja is an employee of the Granger
school district. At this time there is
no known correlation with the students of the Granger school district and this
investigation.
Castilleja was booked into the Benton County Jail.
The investigation is ongoing. Please direct any questions to Lt. Chris Lee,
Richland Police Department, chlee@ci.richland.wa.us
or 509-554-8352.
Arrested:
Millan,
Stevee M.; 23 year of age male; Portland OR address
Matamoro-Almaguer,
Jesus E.; 30 year of age male; Portland, OR address
Charges: Identity theft, 1st Degree Theft
Synopsis:
On April 19,
20, 23 and 24 two males came through the Tri-Cities and used bank account
numbers skimmed from local and regional gas station pumps. The two made several thousands of dollars
worth of purchases at area WalGreens and Bulington Coat Factory stores.
Investigators
also believe they are actively committing similar frauds throughout the state.
On Friday
May 6, 2016 the Richland Police Department learned that the suspects had
checked into the Motel 6 at 1771 Fowler.
Investigators responded to the location and arrested Millan and Almaguer
without incident. A search warrant
served on their motel room and vehicle recovered several pieces of evidence related
to credit/debit card fraud.
Both
subjects were booked into the Benton County jail on the above listed charges.
One complication
of an investigation of this type is difficulty in identifying victims. Most
victims of fraud report the incident to their financial institution but not
their local law enforcement agency. This
makes identification of the number of crimes and victims impossible.
Anyone who
believes that they might have been a victim of this series of crimes is
encouraged to contact Detective Erik Lundquist at 509-942-7716.
On Thursday February 11, 2016 at approximately 2252 hours the Kwik Stop at 2110 Swift Blvd, Richland was robbed at gunpoint. Still photos have been obtained from video which shows 2 subjects enter the store and one subject display what appears to be a handgun. While the photos are not the best quality the suspects may be identifiable by their clothing. Both suspects appeared to be wearing masks at the time of the robbery. The Richland Police Department would like to get these photos out to all the area news stations in hopes of generating suspect information.
Contact Detective Sergeant Carmen Ver Steeg if you have any questions. Email: Cversteeg@ci.richland.wa.us Phone: 509-942-7545.
On February 9th, 2016 at about 09:00 hours Richland officers
were dispatched to the area of 1237 Columbia Park Trail on a welfare
check. Officers were told a 9 year of
age male was seen in the area of the river by himself and that the juvenile had
told the caller he was skipping school.
Officers searched the area for the juvenile locating his father in the
process who was also looking for him. It
was suspected the juvenile was hiding on Bateman Island to avoid his
father. Additional officers and
resources were called to the area to help search. The juvenile was located by officers hiding
in an adjacent apartment complex parking lot.
He was unharmed and reunited with his family.
The Richland Police Department is now accepting registrations for the Spring Crime Resistant Community Living Course sponsored by KPD, PPD and RPD. The class is being held at the Richland Library located at 955 Northgate Drive, Richland, WA on April 13th from 8 AM to 5 PM. Pre-registration is required.
This informative and very popular training for landlords, realtors and property managers is an 8-hour course involving topics such as crime resistant community living, gang & drug recognition, property tenant screening, tenant law and more! Open to all landlords, realtors and commercial/residential property managers.
Registrations may be mailed to:
Ofc. Rick Kane
Richland Police Department
PO BOX 190, MS-17
Richland, WA 99354
or emailed to rkane@ci.richland.wa.us
More Recent Articles
| 
